How the Mafia Created The Kennedys—And Then Marked Them For Death

Video Description

The Kennedy family rose to power under secretly diabolical circumstances that transformed business partnerships into blood vendettas when the mob's investment in Kennedy political power yielded federal prosecutions instead of protection. The fortune that funded their political ascension came from Prohibition-era alliances with notorious crime bosses who never forgot a debt—or forgave a betrayal. ------------------- Gain FREE access to secret full-length episodes on wealthy families "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury ------------------- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Introduction 1:15 Chapter 1: Partners in Prohibition 5:06 Chapter 2: Collecting the Debt 8:46 Chapter 3: The Courier 12:24 Chapter 4: The Prosecutor's Crusade 16:25 Chapter 5: Voices of Vengeance 20:04 Chapter 6: Dead Witnesses ------------------- At age eighty-two, former Mafia kingpin Frank Costello sat with journalist Peter Maas in February 1973, ready to reveal secrets that could rewrite American history. "We were in the liquor business," Costello confided, describing his relationship with Joseph Patrick Kennedy during Prohibition, arranging bootleg scotch deliveries to Cape Cod beach parties. According to Costello, Kennedy handled international shipping while the mob managed domestic distribution, allegedly generating between $4-10 million—worth roughly $120-300 million in current value. Joseph Bonanno corroborated these claims in his 1983 memoir "A Man of Honor," writing that Costello consistently told him about his bootlegging partnership with Joe Kennedy of Boston. Kennedy's alleged criminal network reportedly included Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, utilizing Rum Row where ships anchored outside U.S. territorial waters to sell liquor legally to smugglers. As Prohibition ended in 1933, Kennedy positioned himself brilliantly, securing exclusive distribution rights through Somerset Importers for Haig and Haig Scotch, Gordon's Dry Gin, and Dewar's Scotch. Sam Giancana controlled Chicago's police chiefs, judges, and union bosses when Joseph Kennedy Senior approached him in 1960 about mobilizing the Chicago Outfit's political machine for Jack's campaign. Frank Sinatra became the perfect intermediary for these delicate negotiations, with Tina Sinatra later revealing her father served as go-between because "Kennedy knew dad had access to Sam Giancana." Giancana's response demonstrated his confidence in mob political influence, telling Sinatra it would take "a couple of phone calls" to deliver the union vote in West Virginia's crucial primary. Professor Larry Sabato's research uncovered that Joseph Kennedy allegedly sought Giancana's help resolving a dispute with rival mobster Frank Costello, with payment being "the president's ear" once Jack reached the White House. Judith Campbell Exner carried secrets between the White House and the Chicago Outfit as a courier, maintaining simultaneous relationships with both JFK and Sam Giancana from winter 1960 through March 1962. "I lied when I said that I was not a conduit between President Kennedy and the Mafia," Exner confessed while dying of cancer in 1999, revealing she transported cash and files related to Cuban assassination plots. Mob convictions jumped from thirty-five to two hundred eighty-eight in three years under Robert Kennedy, who transformed the Justice Department into an anti-Mafia war machine. The eight hundred percent increase in prosecutions shattered every precedent in federal law enforcement history, with Kennedy creating the first coordinated program linking all twenty-six federal law enforcement agencies against organized crime. Three hundred volumes of FBI wiretap transcripts documented the mob's murderous rage against the Kennedys, capturing crime bosses discussing assassination plans with increasing specificity. Buffalo's Stefano Magaddino declared in October 1963: "They should kill the whole family, the mother, the father, too"—just one month before Dallas. Philadelphia associates told boss Angelo Bruno: "With Kennedy, a guy should take a knife. Somebody should kill him. Right in the White House." Santo Trafficante Jr. told an FBI informant that Kennedy was "not going to make it to the election" and "was going to be hit." Carlos Marcello promised in September 1962: "Don't worry about that little Bobby son-of-a-bitch. He's going to be taken care of." Johnny Roselli's body was found stuffed in a fifty-five-gallon steel drum in August 1976, murdered before his scheduled Church Committee testimony about CIA-Mafia assassination plots. Sam Giancana was shot while cooking in his Oak Park kitchen in June 1975, days before his Church Committee appearance about Kennedy's death. Four days before Santo Trafficante's death in 1987, he confessed to mob lawyer Frank Ragano: "Carlos screwed up. We shouldn't have killed John. We should've killed Bobby."